Platinum Tetras Or Harlequin Rasbora

[j mac]

Hi
I have 56l tank which been running for over 12 months. During this time as a novice, tank was over stocked but now got down to X6 Penguin Tetras and 1 Chinese Algae Eater (mistake I know but seems peaceful for now!)
Been looking at Platinum Tetras (in lfs) but can find little info on them generally. What have found is good easy, peaceful fish and only grow to about 3cms.
Other choice is Harlequin Rasbora but these grow to approx 5cms and like pH 6.0-6.5 (mine is 7.6)

Hoping for advice on good tankmates for penguin tetras which quite small (so don't run risk of overstocking again)and easy to keep.

Thanks

 

[Tizer]

Have a look at a nice size school of Ember Tetras, you could get 20/25 in there quite happily. I personally would stock this tank with fish that are suitable only for a nano tank, so nothing that grows larger than a neon. The Embers would look great in this tank and add some nice colour, especially if you complemented it with a few live plants. Very cheap fish too.

 

[Dazzler666]

I wouldn't worry about rasboras and your PH as I've got 7 in my 120 litre along with lemon tetras, beacon tetras, 4 tiger barbs & 4 green barbs with a constant PH of 7.5 with no problems .

 

[OldMan47]

The rasboras will do just fine in your water. I have a water at a pH of 7.8 and mine do just fine. They are far tougher than they look.

 

[j mac]

Thanks so much for advice so think choice now between rasboras or ember tetras (just done bit research on these and agree think would look great.)
Thinking buying fish over weekend and read rule when adding to tank 'don 't add more than double number fish already got so cycle can cope'

So as I have:
x6 penguin tetras
x1 chinese algae eater 56l established tank

PLEASE ADVISE
could I add x4 - 6 rasboras in one go or stagger?
or
Tizer advised 20/25 ember tetras - how many half first then half later?

Thanks

 

[Dazzler666]

It depends on your filter however, IMO if they are only small rasboras and not fully grown I wouldnt think they would increase the bio-load that substantially with only 4-6 of them. Bacteria begins to re-colonise immediately when there is an increase in the bio-load (fish waste).
I'd put them in but keep a close eye on your water parameters & consider testing daily and do partial water changes daily for a week to be safe, obviously increase amount if water change if water stats increase.
Hope this helps & good luck

 

[Primous]

Hi J Mac

With the choice you have I'd advise you to go with platinum tetras! Reason being, they are really rare. I personally didn't even know they existed until feb of this year and I've been researching fish for some time lol. They look stunning and if I had the opportunity to grab some I wouldn't hesitate. Rasboras and harlequins are great fish but very common in comparison to platinum tetras.

Not only that but in getting a rare species and sharing your experiences you bring something new to the hobby with your experience in keeping them.

 

[ian]

They're not that rare, most P@H will stock them from time to time. They will also order you some in. I would go with the platinums as well.

 

[mattlee]

platinums for me too...

i had a group of 20 of these fish and they are stunning, they almost looked like someone had painted them chrome. there are 2 species that get confused with each other when being labelled up at lfs so be sure to get the better looking of the 2. mine also grew bigger than stated on websites etc and became quite fiesty little fish.

the species that get confused name wise are-

Hemigrammus vorderwinkleri - platinum tetra

&

Hemigrammus rodwayi - gold tetra (which arent really gold) aka platinum tetra

the pics arent great but here are the group i had

 

[j mac]

Thanks to you all for your advice - you have given me plenty to think about